Head Gardener Matthew Murgatroyd says the TV producers were attracted to the venue after seeing its Instagram page featuring the team of professional gardeners at work. “They wanted to see how a modern professional gardening team worked in a stately home environment. We believe firmly in traditional methods where they’re efficient and sustainable what we’re not frightened to use technology or try new things if they make us more productive or greener in our gardening”.
The footage of the iconic Cumbrian venue, home to some of Britain’s most important trees and national collections, features all six of the historic homes’ gardeners getting the 17-acre garden ready for the two-day Gardens and Outdoor Living Festival held over the May Bank Holiday. As Matthew explained, it was a balancing act getting the work done and accommodating the film crew. “We knew that thousands of people were soon to descend on our Gardens and there was a lot still to do to be fully ready – but the film crew were great and let us get on with our jobs. They didn’t want filming sequences staged, their goal was to capture us working in our natural environment. We can’t wait to see the finished edit!”
Gardener’s World is hosted by national treasure Monty Don and attracts more than 2.2 million viewers to its regular Friday night slot on BBC TV. The programme featuring Holker Hall & Gardens and its gardening team airs on BBC2 on Friday 16th May at 8pm and will also be available on BBC iPlayer.
